Post by nirvash on Dec 17, 2009 20:31:30 GMT -5
There was a singular motion in the hangar, mechanics and engineers and pilots rushing towards one of the doorways when lunch was brought in on a cart. Kreuz caught a snippet of conversation here and there, "That's why I punched his sister!", "...ramble all zig...", "Kreuz, package for you! Kreuz! Kreuz!" The pilot finally noticed the mechanic pushing his way through the mass of bodies, shoving workers aside with a big white envelope. "For me?" the pilot inquired, rather surprised. "Yes, for you, dumbass. Here." The mechanic passed off the package and and pushed his way, cursing, to the source of delicious space nourishment.
Kreuz ripped open the package right then and there, and a small white square fell into his hand, some kind of data disc. He ambled to the computer room, picked a desk in the back corner, and popped in. After a brief moment of blackness on the screen, a young, blonde man appeared on the screen. He was dressed in black and bore some indeterminate rank pins. Kreuz's body tensed up, and he lost the ability to speak for several minutes. The blonde man broke the silence for him, and he spoke with a wicked grin spread across his face. Kreuz felt the world drop away, as if he and the man on the screen were the only people in the world, but no matter how hard he tried, he could never reach across a chasm that separated them.
"I'm sure you look well, Brother." No, this isn't happening. "I trust the Federation has given you satisfactory housing. No doubt they've put you away in some backwater colony, cleaning toilets or something equally degrading." Where are you, Richter? "I've been more fortunate. Zeon has taken me back with open arms, despite our dear parents'... "dereliction" of duty." Take that off, Richter.
"You see, brother, after we were sent back to Side 3, we were treated as traitors. We were, of course, even if I was a victim of Mother and Father's abandonment, I still bore the sins of my father." Don't, Richter. "However! The state saw my resolve. They saw my passion, Michael." You're a fool. Come back to me, this isn't your war to fight.
"That is why I was spared a traitor's death. I was sad to see our parents die, don't misunderstand me. But it was necessary. They committed a crime and were punished for it. So I'm paying them the respect they deserve by learning from their mistakes." I... "Michael, I'm not angry at you. You did what you had to do to survive. If you come home, you won't be persecuted, you can be taken under my care in the SS! If you join us, you'll be given a full pardon! We can fight for our independence together! Don't you remember Zum?" Of course I do.
"Please, Michael, the Federation is dying, this is a war they cannot win while we have justice on our side." Wars aren't fought with ideals, Richter! They're fought with bullets, they're fought with blood, they're fought with bodies! They're fought with soldiers who die for those ideals! "Zeon is freedom, Brother. I am free from Earth! Zeon reaches for the stars, and I want to reach the stars with whatever remains of my family."
"Sieg Zeon!"
RECORDING END
Kreuz's legs refused to hold him up any longer. He fell against the wall and slid to the ground. The white envelope crinkled in his hand, cold to the touch. Raising it up to his face, he looked at the address. It had been mailed from Side 4, weeks ago now, postage delivery was becoming increasingly erratic outside of official Federation mail. Kreuz's legs pushed against the floor and lifted his body up along the wall.
The pilot slowly made his way to the mail office, the nearest one not too far from him in the space port. Empty, save for one office attendant, Kreuz was able to talk to the round man behind the desk immediately. "Excuse me." Kreuz had barely finished his sentence before the man answered him. "Hello there, what can I do for you?" he asked warmly. "I, er, wanted to know what kind of examination a package like this would go through." He handed over the envelope.
"Ahhh, yes, something like this would only get a cursory glance, checking for bombs or chemical weapons, you know, the normal kind of thing." The man knew the system very well, apparently. Kreuz backed away from the desk. "Oh... something embarrassing in here you don't want a superior to see? A girlfriend, maybe? A boyfriend, even?" The man seemed quite satisfied by Kreuz's baffled expression. "Uh... No, nothing quite like that." "Well, your secret is now yours and your special someone's alone!" The man winked at Kreuz as the pilot plodded out of the post center and to the hangar.
No one seemed to notice him as he climbed into his GM's cockpit, despite the mechanics scrambling over and around it. Kreuz fell into the still-stiff chair, not yet feeling like an older machine's surprisingly relaxing seat. He reached into his jumpsuit and pulled out a picture he stopped at his locker to get before getting in the Mobile Suit. He looked at it for a moment, frowned, and slid it into a gap between a monitor and a support pylon. Satisfied, he sighed and let his head roll back.
"God damn. Richter, I'm not going to be the one who kicks your ass when you screw up anymore." The pilot cursed a few more times and then fell silent. "There's nothing I can do to protect you, little brother. You're on your own. Even if you die, I can't shed any tears for you until this war is over. And I'm damn well going to do my part to end it. So don't fuck up."
"HEY! KREUZ, YOU IN THERE? WE NEED TO MOVE THE SNIPER ONTO A SHUTTLE, YOU AND THE GUNCANNON ARE DOING SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE, I WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION, BUT YOU SHOULD PROBA-" The lead engineer's shouting was cut off as phlegmy coughing and hacking forced him to lean against the Sniper's foot. "Don't make an old man yell like that, ya damn kid!"
Kreuz ripped open the package right then and there, and a small white square fell into his hand, some kind of data disc. He ambled to the computer room, picked a desk in the back corner, and popped in. After a brief moment of blackness on the screen, a young, blonde man appeared on the screen. He was dressed in black and bore some indeterminate rank pins. Kreuz's body tensed up, and he lost the ability to speak for several minutes. The blonde man broke the silence for him, and he spoke with a wicked grin spread across his face. Kreuz felt the world drop away, as if he and the man on the screen were the only people in the world, but no matter how hard he tried, he could never reach across a chasm that separated them.
"I'm sure you look well, Brother." No, this isn't happening. "I trust the Federation has given you satisfactory housing. No doubt they've put you away in some backwater colony, cleaning toilets or something equally degrading." Where are you, Richter? "I've been more fortunate. Zeon has taken me back with open arms, despite our dear parents'... "dereliction" of duty." Take that off, Richter.
"You see, brother, after we were sent back to Side 3, we were treated as traitors. We were, of course, even if I was a victim of Mother and Father's abandonment, I still bore the sins of my father." Don't, Richter. "However! The state saw my resolve. They saw my passion, Michael." You're a fool. Come back to me, this isn't your war to fight.
"That is why I was spared a traitor's death. I was sad to see our parents die, don't misunderstand me. But it was necessary. They committed a crime and were punished for it. So I'm paying them the respect they deserve by learning from their mistakes." I... "Michael, I'm not angry at you. You did what you had to do to survive. If you come home, you won't be persecuted, you can be taken under my care in the SS! If you join us, you'll be given a full pardon! We can fight for our independence together! Don't you remember Zum?" Of course I do.
"Please, Michael, the Federation is dying, this is a war they cannot win while we have justice on our side." Wars aren't fought with ideals, Richter! They're fought with bullets, they're fought with blood, they're fought with bodies! They're fought with soldiers who die for those ideals! "Zeon is freedom, Brother. I am free from Earth! Zeon reaches for the stars, and I want to reach the stars with whatever remains of my family."
"Sieg Zeon!"
RECORDING END
Kreuz's legs refused to hold him up any longer. He fell against the wall and slid to the ground. The white envelope crinkled in his hand, cold to the touch. Raising it up to his face, he looked at the address. It had been mailed from Side 4, weeks ago now, postage delivery was becoming increasingly erratic outside of official Federation mail. Kreuz's legs pushed against the floor and lifted his body up along the wall.
The pilot slowly made his way to the mail office, the nearest one not too far from him in the space port. Empty, save for one office attendant, Kreuz was able to talk to the round man behind the desk immediately. "Excuse me." Kreuz had barely finished his sentence before the man answered him. "Hello there, what can I do for you?" he asked warmly. "I, er, wanted to know what kind of examination a package like this would go through." He handed over the envelope.
"Ahhh, yes, something like this would only get a cursory glance, checking for bombs or chemical weapons, you know, the normal kind of thing." The man knew the system very well, apparently. Kreuz backed away from the desk. "Oh... something embarrassing in here you don't want a superior to see? A girlfriend, maybe? A boyfriend, even?" The man seemed quite satisfied by Kreuz's baffled expression. "Uh... No, nothing quite like that." "Well, your secret is now yours and your special someone's alone!" The man winked at Kreuz as the pilot plodded out of the post center and to the hangar.
No one seemed to notice him as he climbed into his GM's cockpit, despite the mechanics scrambling over and around it. Kreuz fell into the still-stiff chair, not yet feeling like an older machine's surprisingly relaxing seat. He reached into his jumpsuit and pulled out a picture he stopped at his locker to get before getting in the Mobile Suit. He looked at it for a moment, frowned, and slid it into a gap between a monitor and a support pylon. Satisfied, he sighed and let his head roll back.
"God damn. Richter, I'm not going to be the one who kicks your ass when you screw up anymore." The pilot cursed a few more times and then fell silent. "There's nothing I can do to protect you, little brother. You're on your own. Even if you die, I can't shed any tears for you until this war is over. And I'm damn well going to do my part to end it. So don't fuck up."
"HEY! KREUZ, YOU IN THERE? WE NEED TO MOVE THE SNIPER ONTO A SHUTTLE, YOU AND THE GUNCANNON ARE DOING SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE, I WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION, BUT YOU SHOULD PROBA-" The lead engineer's shouting was cut off as phlegmy coughing and hacking forced him to lean against the Sniper's foot. "Don't make an old man yell like that, ya damn kid!"